Lotus 79 voted most beautiful F1 car by BBC Sport users

Lotus 79 voted most beautiful F1 car by BBC Sport usersByAlan JewellBBC SportPublished9 April 2026639 CommentsUpdated 17 minutes agoThanks to all of you who took part in our vote on the most beautiful F1 car of all time - and we now have a winner.Spanning the 1950s to 2025, we drew up a shortlist of 13 which incorporated evocative names from F1 past and present: Maserati, Ferrari, Lotus, Brabham, McLaren, Mercedes, Jordan, Renault and Red Bull.We had a great response and the final result brought a 1-2 for Lotus with McLaren completing the podium in third.The black and gold Lotus 79, which dominated the 1978 F1 championship, came out on top, chosen by 17% of users, with the 1967 Lotus 49 in second (13%).The 1988 McLaren MP4/4, which brought Ayrton Senna his first world title, just edged out the 1992 Williams FW14B, the car from Nigel Mansell's championship year.You can look at and read about all 13 shortlisted cars below, and scroll down for the final results... Maserati 250F, 1954-60Image source, Getty ImagesJuan Manuel Fangio is pictured above driving the Maserati 250F during the 1958 French Grand Prix, the final race for the five-time world champion who dominated the first decade of F1. Fangio drove the 250F to victory in its first race, the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix - his home event. It was also in this front-engine car that Fangio came from 50 seconds behind to catch and pass Ferrari's Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins to win the 1957 German Grand Prix at the 14-mile Nurburgring, lapping 15 seconds faster than the old lap record for one of F1's greatest victories.'Sharknose' Ferrari 156, 1961Image source, Getty ImagesThe 'sharknose' Ferrari 156, with a twin-nostril front end, dominated the 1961 season, winning five of the eight races, including the British Grand Prix at Aintree where they finished 1-2-3. The championship became a straight fight between team-mates Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips and it was decided in tragic circu...